GETTING AROUND.

CTA holds hearing for bus, train riders

October 27, 2003|By Chicago Tribune.

The Chicago Transit Authority will hold a public hearing Thursday for bus and train riders to comment on next year's proposed budget, and there's plenty to talk about. Much more, in fact, than what can be crammed into the one public session required by law.

CTA president Frank Kruesi has proposed raising the base fare, which has been $1.50 since 1991, to $1.75 starting Jan. 1; restricting the use of transfers, a move aimed at squeezing another $1.75 out of riders who make return trips within two hours; and eliminating the 10 percent bonus that transit card users have received since 1997 for buying $10 worth of rides, or multiples of $10, in advance.

Those measures, coupled with cost savings, will help erase an $88 million operating deficit forecast for next year, officials said.

But CTA customers and the public might have some thoughts on a range of options that were studied during internal CTA meetings, but didn't make Kruesi's final list. They might also debate the accuracy of assumptions made by the CTA regarding how customers put off by the higher basic fare would migrate to the CTA's Chicago Card, an arguably overpriced $5 smart card, and to 30-day passes.

The CTA also is bypassing the opportunity to discourage the use of cash fares by charging customers who pay their fares in cash with a substantially higher fare hike than anyone else--say, $2. Cash fares are the most expensive for the CTA to process and they are vulnerable to internal theft.

And the CTA is leaving untouched the cost of the 30-day pass, which at $75 is one of the most expensive in the U.S. compared with similar systems. The agency is betting that many riders who currently are not using the pass will come to realize it is a bargain.